Video adaptable jewelry

ABSTRACT

A jewelry piece in which the precious stone is replaced with an apparatus comprising a screen, wherein the apparatus is capable of receiving from a smart phone and displaying on the screen an image a user selects from a plurality of choices, in order to make the jewelry piece appear as having a particular precious stone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional and claims the benefit of U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 13/679,813, filed Nov. 16, 2012,which is hereby incorporated by reference, to the extent that it is notconflicting with the present application.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGCOMPACT DISC APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to jewelry and more particularly to amethod and system for custom-changing the appearance of the “preciousstone” element of a jewelry piece.

2. Description of the Related Art

Typically, one person's wardrobe, especially that of a woman, includes avariety of clothing articles of different styles and colors to be wornas appropriate for the season, time of day, event attended, and so on.Wearing a particular clothing article, such as a dress having a certaincolor, typically requires matching jewelry pieces. Thus, many jewelrypieces are needed if a matching style is always desired.

Purchasing various pieces of jewelry having precious stone elements tomatch for example the various colors in one's wardrobe can be veryexpensive, even if such stone elements are artificial. This is because,currently, the jewelries available on the market are rigid in design andcannot adapt to the customers' various needs. Namely, the availablejewelries do not give the flexibility to the customer to custom-changethe look of their jewelries to match the outfit, its color, or the styleof their preference.

Thus, there is a need for a new kind of jewelry that addresses theproblems described above.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects oressential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summaryis not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of theclaimed subject matter.

In one exemplary embodiment, the precious stone element of a jewelrypiece is replaced with a flexible screen and the jewelry piece isadapted to be capable of receiving from a smart phone and displaying onthe flexible screen an image a user selects in order to make the jewelrypiece appear as having a particular precious stone. Thus, an advantageis that the user can customize the appearance of the jewelry piece asneeded in order to match a certain style or color of an outfit. Anotheradvantage is that the user can save a significant amount of money byonly purchasing a few of such customizable jewelry pieces and stillpreserving the ability to match a potentially unlimited number of stylesand colors, by simply changing the image or pattern displayed by theflexible screen.

In another exemplary embodiment, the assembly that includes the flexiblescreen and the supporting components and circuitries can easily andquickly be moved from one jewelry piece to another. Thus, anotheradvantage is that a number of such assemblies, which is less than thetotal number of user's jewelry pieces, need to be purchased by the user,thus, further saving money to the user.

In another exemplary embodiment, images and patterns may be easily andconveniently transferred from one jewelry piece to another by simplytapping the two jewelry pieces onto each other. Thus, another advantageis that the user may install a preferred image into a ring for exampleand then simply tap all the other jewelry pieces the user wants to wearat one time (e.g., bracelet, earrings, etc), in order to make them allmatch.

The above embodiments and advantages, as well as other embodiments andadvantages, will become apparent from the ensuing description andaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes,embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the figures of theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a system for creating a videoadaptable jewelry, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a system for using andmaintaining a video adaptable jewelry, according to another embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates exploded perspective views of the adaptable jewelry100 from FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 depicts the interchangeability of the dome assembly 440 amongvarious jewelry items, according to another embodiment.

FIGS. 5 a-b illustrate a method of transferring data from one adaptablepiece of jewelry to another, according to another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

What follows is a detailed description of the preferred embodiments ofthe invention in which the invention may be practiced. Reference will bemade to the attached drawings, and the information included in thedrawings is part of this detailed description. The specific preferredembodiments of the invention, which will be described herein, arepresented for exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes.It should be understood that structural and/or logical modificationscould be made by someone of ordinary skills in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the inventionis defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.

The terms video adaptable jewelry, adaptable jewelry, customizablejewelry, jewelry and their derivatives are used interchangeably withinthis specification.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a system for creating a videoadaptable jewelry, according to an embodiment. As shown, a piece ofjewelry 100, such as a ring, may be adapted to receive an image 102 froma smart phone 106. The image 102 may be a still image or a video. Theadaptable jewelry 100 may typically have a metal (e.g., gold, silver,and so on) portion 105 and a dome 101. In a less expensive embodiment,the dome 101 may be a transparent lens, which may be solid or hollow,while the image 102 is displayed as shown on a flat screen 103 havingsubstantially the same area as the base of the dome 101 and the topsurface of metal portion 105. Thus, for example, the image 102 may be ablue layer displayed on the entire flat screen 103 from where the image102 reflects onto the transparent lens, thus making the lens appearblue, thus imitating a blue sapphire for example. Hence, the user/wearerof the adaptable ring 100 has now a ring which appears to have asapphire stone to match other of her accessories or clothing article(s).Should the user want to change the ring to appear as having a greentopaz instead of blue sapphire, she will simply replace the blue image102 with a green image matching the color of a green topaz. Thus, theuser has an unlimited number of possibilities to use the same piece ofjewelry while appearing to have a different precious stone.

In a preferred embodiment, instead of using the flat screen 103, aflexible screen (not shown) may be installed on dome 101 such that theflexible screen takes the shape of the dome. It should be noted that ifthe flexible screen is installed on the exterior surface of the dome101, the dome does not need to be transparent. In an even more preferredembodiment, the flexible screen may completely replace the dome 101,thus, actually becoming the dome 101, such that adaptable jewelry 100may include the metal portion 105 and a flexible screen having the shapeof a dome or any other desired shape (e.g., more sophisticated, facetedshapes). The flexible screen may be a OLED (organic light-emittingdiode) flexible screen or any other type of flexible screen availableand suitable for this kind of small and flexible display application.

The images 102 and different patterns may be created for example byusers or by a third party and they may be typically stored on a server107 from where they may be downloaded via a two-way internet or cellularnetwork link 109 into a smart phone 106. The smart phone 106 will beequipped with an application (“app”) specifically configured to performall the functions described in this disclosure, including, preferably, asoftware for images or pattern development by the user to download intothe jewelry. The adaptable jewelry app may also be stored on server 107and may be made available for download onto the smart phone 106. Throughthe adaptable jewelry app, the images may be downloaded from the server107 and then, typically using a two-way communication link 108 employingtechnologies such as Bluetooth, uploaded from the smart phone 106 intothe adaptable jewelry 100. The adaptable jewelry 100 may be configuredto receive/download and store the image 102, as it will be described inmore details later herein, and display the image 102 as explainedearlier. Thus, again, the appearance of the adaptable jewelry 100 maychange at any time based on the image 102 downloaded from the smartphone 106.

It should be noted that other technologies now known or future developedmay be used to customize a jewelry piece, to obtain the effect describedabove, without departing from the scope of the invention. For example,once the hologram technology advances in the future, the dome and thedisplay may be replaced with a hologram graphic imitating a preciousstone. Furthermore, future technological advances may make it possiblefor the adaptable jewelry 100 to communicate directly with server 107,thus eliminating the need of a smart phone 106 to complete the processdescribed herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a system for using andmaintaining a video adaptable jewelry, according to another embodiment.As explained earlier, images 202, graphics, colors, patterns and/orinformation from a smart phone 206 may be uploaded into and displayed byan adaptable jewelry 200 in order to customize its appearance. Thefunctional components described in detail later herein of the adaptablejewelry are typically powered by a battery, which preferably last a fewhours depending primarily on the size of the image or video beingdisplayed. A few hours of lasting power supply would typically besufficient for the user of the adaptable jewelry to attend events suchas a reception. Before and/or after use of the adaptable jewelry 200,its battery may be charged by simply placing the adaptable jewelry 200in one of the slots 214 of a charger 212, which in turn may be connectedto a standard house or car outlet (not shown). It should be noted thatthe charger 212 may have several slots 214 to accommodate simultaneouslyseveral adaptable pieces of jewelry 200 (e.g., a ring, earrings, apendant of a necklace, etc) a user may have and want to charge and use.As one of ordinary skills in the art would recognize, the charger 212may be an induction charger in which power is transferred to the metalportion 205 of the adaptable jewelry 200, and then to the battery,through the plastic case of the charger 212 and/or its slots 214 usingmagnetic induction, thus, without the need for metal contact(s).

In another embodiment, the charger may simply be an inductive chargingtray (not shown), or a bowl, or other similarly shaped container orplatform, which may be plugged into a standard wall outlet, and on whichthe user basically may throw her ring, bracelet, etc, for chargingpurpose. Once the jewelry sits on the tray, through magnetic induction,the battery in that jewelry is charged. This approach may be moreconvenient for the user, and even a fun thing to do.

FIG. 3 illustrates exploded perspective views of the adaptable jewelry100 from FIG. 1. As shown, the dome 301 may be associated with a housingmember 330 forming together the dome assembly 340. The dome 301 and thehousing member 330 may be associated together using known fasteningmethods such as snap or thread-based fastening. The housing member 330may further be associated with the base 305 a of the metal portion 305of the adaptable jewelry 300. Thus, together, the dome assembly 340 andthe metal portion 305 form the adaptable jewelry 300 (100 in FIG. 1).The dome assembly 340 may also be associated with the base 305 a ofmetal portion 305 through known fastening methods such as snap orthread-based fastening. When snap fastening is used, the dome assembly340 may be easily popped up from the bottom of base 305 a, when, forexample, the dome assembly 340 needs to be replaced with another one, orwhen the dome assembly is needed for use with another jewelry.

It should be noted that at the top of the housing member 330, a flatscreen 303 may be placed, as described above as being the case of one,less expensive, embodiment. As explained earlier, the preferredembodiments are using flexible screen on (i.e., on top of or under) thedome 301 or the dome is actually the flexible screen shaped as a dome orin any other desired shape.

The housing member 330 houses important circuitries and components,which one of ordinary skills in the art would recognize, are necessaryto accomplish the customizing functionality of the appearance of dome301, and thus, of the entire adaptable jewelry 300, as describedearlier. Such circuitries and components include: miniature electroniccircuitry for the screen 303; miniature electronic circuitry, includingan antenna, to enable the communication link 108 (FIG. 1) between thesmart phone 106 (FIG. 1) and the adaptable jewelry 300 (100 in FIG. 1),as described earlier when referring to FIG. 1 (e.g., using Bluetoothtechnology); memory circuitry to store the image, video or other datatransferred to the adaptable jewelry; a microprocessor chip andprogram(s) needed to perform all adaptable jewelry's functions asdescribed herein; and, a battery to supply power to all circuitry andcomponents in need of power.

One of ordinary skills in the art would recognize that differentapproaches may be adopted in regards to where and how to actually equipthe adaptable jewelry with the above listed components and circuitries.An approach or another may be selected based on various factors such asthe impact on jewelry's appearance, reliability and costs. For example,the metal portion 305 (105 in FIG. 1) may itself possibly be used as anantenna. Or, as another example, the antenna may be integrateddiscretely in the dome 301 (101 in FIG. 1), such as in a car'swindshield.

FIG. 4 depicts the interchangeability of the dome assembly 440 amongvarious jewelry items, according to another embodiment. As mentionedearlier, the dome assembly 440 may be removably associated, such as bysnap fastening, with the base 305 a (FIG. 3) of the metal portion 305(FIG. 3) of the adaptable jewelry 300 (FIG. 3). This advantageousconfiguration allows a user to use the same dome assembly 440 on variouspieces of jewelry, such as a bracelet 451, a ring 452, an earring 453, apendant 454 of a necklace, a cuff link 455, and so on. Thus, forexample, a user has the option to acquire a set of five differentadaptable jewelries, such as the ones depicted in FIG. 4, and only twoor three dome assemblies 440 to use as needed on the pieces of jewelrythe user wants to wear on a certain occasion. As another example, a usermay acquire a set of, for example, five pieces of jewelry, each havingits own dome assembly 440, and also a spare dome assembly to be used inthe event that one of the five dome assemblies goes dark and/or becomesdefective.

FIGS. 5 a-b illustrate a method of transferring data from one adaptablepiece of jewelry to another, according to another embodiment. As shown,a previously downloaded image 502 (or other data) in an adaptable ring500 may be transferred to another adaptable ring 500a, when, forexample, the 500 a ring does not have the respective image (see FIG. 5a) or when synchronization of the two pieces of jewelry is desired. Suchtransfer may be done by simply tapping (see FIG. 5 b) the domes (501 and501 a), or other portions, of the two rings (500, 500 b).

To accomplish the transfer of data by tapping, known technologies in theart may be adopted, such as the bump technology used for the bumping appon current smart phones. Preferably, the tapping application will beimbedded into the processor of each ring, and configured to work withthe adaptable jewelry app referred to earlier when describing FIG. 1.Once activated from their respective smart phones, the tappingapplication will allow the sharing of the image from one ring to theother. Therefore, there will preferably be a sync button on the smartphone adaptable jewelry app supporting the jewelry customization processdisclosed herein. Once pressed, typically, the sync button will engagethe embedded tapping program on the ring which will be looking for atapping from another ring that also has the sync feature ON. Once thishappens, the data between the two rings are synced.

The data transfer action between the rings may also be configured totake place from the bumping of two smart phones having the adaptablejewelry app installed. Once the two phones are bumped, the data from onephone is synced to the other and automatically downloaded to therespective rings. It should be noted that preferably no server (107 inFIG. 1) is implicated in the tapping for data transfer application. Thedata is preferably transferred directly between the two rings or,alternatively, between two smart phones and then to the rings.

It should be noted that the tapping or pumping actions may simply bereplaced with a button on the adaptable jewelry app programmed toactivate the transfer. However, the tapping or bumping of the two ringsto initiate data transfer adds to the “coolness” effect of the jewelrycustomization process disclosed herein.

It should also be noted that, besides being “cool,” the transfer bytapping described above may have significant time saving and convenienceadvantages. For example, the user may install, or the user may havepreviously installed, a preferred image into a ring, and then, the usersonly needs to simply and quickly tap all the other jewelry pieces theuser wants to wear at one time (e.g., bracelet, earrings, etc), in orderto make them all match.

One of ordinary skills in the art would recognize that the apparatus andthe process disclosed herein for custom-imitating the appearance of aprecious stones may be employed in other applications, other than thoserelated to jewelry. For example, the apparatus and the process disclosedherein may be used to custom-imitate precious stones one clocks,watches, purses, shoes, furniture and so on.

One of ordinary skills in the art would also recognize that theadaptable jewelry app referred to earlier when describing FIG. 1 mayincorporate other functionalities that may be useful to the user. Forexample, the app may be configured to monitor the battery level of theadaptable jewelry and to alert the user when the battery level is low.The alert may include the remaining time before the screen will shutdown for lack of power. Thus, the user would be able to take thenecessary steps to avoid an embarrassing situation when, for example,the user is at a party.

It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words andphrases used in this patent document. The terms “include” and“comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion withoutlimitation. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrases“associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivativesthereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with,contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, becommunicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximateto, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like.

As used in this application, “plurality” means two or more. A “set” ofitems may include one or more of such items. Whether in the writtendescription or the claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,”“carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to beunderstood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to.Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of,” respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitionalphrases with respect to claims. Use of ordinal terms such as “first,”“second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element doesnot by itself connote any priority, precedence or order of one claimelement over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method areperformed. These terms are used merely as labels to distinguish oneclaim element having a certain name from another element having a samename (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claimelements. As used in this application, “and/or” means that the listeditems are alternatives, but the alternatives also include anycombination of the listed items.

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown shouldbe considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus andprocedures disclosed or claimed. Although many of the examples involvespecific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should beunderstood that those acts and those elements may be combined in otherways to accomplish the same objectives.

For means-plus-function limitations recited in the claims, the means arenot intended to be limited to the means disclosed in this applicationfor performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scopeany means, known now or later developed, for performing the recitedfunction.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described hereinfor the purpose of disclosing the preferred embodiments, someone ofordinary skills in the art will easily detect alternate embodimentsand/or equivalent variations, which may be capable of achieving the sameresults, and which may be substituted for the specific embodimentsillustrated and described herein without departing from the scope of theinvention. Therefore, the scope of this application is intended to coveralternate embodiments and /or equivalent variations of the specificembodiments illustrated and/or described herein. Hence, the scope of theinvention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.Furthermore, each and every claim is incorporated as further disclosureinto the specification and the claims are embodiment(s) of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising means for receiving anddisplaying digital data such that to imitate a real precious stone. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving and displayingdigital data comprise a flat screen and a transparent dome.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving and displayingdigital data comprise a flexible screen shaped as a dome.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital data comprises at least onemember of a group consisting of an image, a pattern and a video.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to fit on aplurality of jewelry pieces.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising means for allowing the received digital data to betransferred to another apparatus by tapping the two apparatuses ontoeach other, such that the apparatus to which the digital data istransferred, after the transfer, imitates the same real precious stone.7. A system for customizing the appearance of a jewelry piececomprising: a networked server for storing a collection of digital data;a digital device capable of communicating with the networked serverincluding downloading digital data therefrom; an apparatus configured tofit on a plurality of jewelry pieces, the apparatus comprising a screenand being capable of receiving from the digital device and displaying onthe screen digital data a user selects from the collection of digitaldata, in order to make a jewelry piece appear as having a preferredprecious stone; and, an adaptable jewelry app downloadable from thenetwork server into the smart phone, wherein the adaptable jewelry appenables the user using the digital device to perform a plurality offunctions comprising: browsing the collection of digital data stored bythe server, selecting preferred digital data from the collection ofdigital data, and downloading selected digital data into the digitaldevice and then uploading it into the apparatus.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the screen is flexible and shaped as a dome.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the digital data comprises at least one member of agroup consisting of an image, a pattern and a video.
 10. The system ofclaim 7, further comprising an inductive charger having a plurality ofcharging slots for inductively charging a metal portion of the jewelrypiece, and thus, a battery powering the apparatus.
 11. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the inductive charger having a plurality of chargingslots is replaced with an inductive charging tray.
 12. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for allowing thereceived digital data to be transferred to an apparatus of anotherjewelry piece by tapping the two jewelry pieces onto each other, suchthat the jewelry piece to which the digital data is transferred, afterthe transfer, appears as having the same preferred precious stone.